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Members & staff of UKIP past & present. Committed to reforming the party by exposing the corruption and dishonesty that lies at its heart, in the hope of making it fit for purpose.
Only by removing Nigel Farage and his sycophants on the NEC can we save UKIP from electoral oblivion.
SEE: http://juniusonukip.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/a-statement-re-junius.html

I hope you do not mind, but I have attached transparency drafts for all MEPs to this e-mail – it saves me time to do it that way

The only one you need to look at is your own one.

I would be grateful if you would confirm that you are happy with it (or advise any changes) – ideally asap – and by end of weekend as I hope to send to Kevin Bonici for putting on EFD MEPs website late Monday, before I disappear to Spain for a week, early on Tuesday

One general point –as you know, we have removed all ?? amounts. On the text in first para on Parliamentary Assistance Allowance, I have added an extra sentence at the end – not least at Marta’s request. I hope you will find this acceptable – as ideally you should all have the same text

I can live with the comment that you have added to the secretarial allowance about any amount not claimed going back to the EU budget, even if this is not my preferred option.

In the case of General Expense allowance however I cannot adhere to the text you propose, for the reasons I explained at the meeting last week and which I reiterate below.

Section 3 Article 25 of the Implementing Measures for the Statute for Members of the European Parliament states that " members shall be entitled to a flat-rate general expenditure allowance to cover expenses which arise in the course of their parliamentary activities and which are not covered by other allowances under these implementing measures or other Parliament rules".

There is no mention on where you incurr the expense whereas in the paragraph you propose you limit the "cost of carrying out the duties of the MEP, incurred in the United Kingdom". I do not see the need to add this limitation when the regulation does not require this and moreover you have advised me to use the general allowance to cover costs that I have incurred in Brussels, such the case of the media training by Martin Jay for example.

I therefore propose that the paragraph to be used in reference to General Expenses should be the text of Section 3 Article 25 of the Implementing Measures as quoted above.

I await for your final version to introduce my final numbers.

I take the opportunity to inform all that the travel reimbursement office can issue a summary of amount paid for daily allowance and number of missions.

Where I have taken authority on is the another 42 page document - known as the PEAM rules – reference number 2.1.1. (Rules governing the payment of expense and allowances to members) My last copy was drawn down on 11th November 2009 – It needs updating on some things – but not yet published (as you will know)

This document at Chapter 4 – article 13 - giving a whole page to it, - not just the 3 line you quote, explains the headings of expenditure, but also says, in the heading “This allowance is intended to cover, inter alia, the following expenses incurred in the member state of election”

Discussion

From the above, I think you have not seen all the rules

We do not have time to discuss this

Action suggested

While I am very unhappy about it, I propose to all MEPs that we remove the words “incurred in the United Kingdom” , but leave all other words as isYou know my view – publish soon the minimum and add extra later if demanded

I copied all because we have been having this discussion among all and because I think my observation is valid for all. I did not understand we needed to have separate conversations on different matters and I had already expressed my views during the meeting where you agreed.

I have seen all the rules but the paragraph I refer to is the one in the implementing rules which is the specific application rule. I frankly do not understand why you insist on limiting this to the UK when implementing rule does not but what worries me more is that I have incurred expenditure in Brussels out of this allowance upon your advise and I refer to Martin Jay?s fees for media training.

So I am sorry but in my page I will state the paragraph of the implementing rules.

As regards the final figures I have now obtained the official report for the number of missions and daily allowances and I have 18 return trips and 65 days allowance instead of the numbers I put in my draft. But I still need to confirm certain figures in the general allowance and this may take until next week.

Assuming you have all the accurate info from the rest of the MEPs I have no problem in that their figures are published on Monday and mine are published some days later when I am happy the information is accurate. If you leave for Spain I can ask Kevin Bonici to load mine in your absence.

Thanks you – you may have missed it? - I had said in my email below to remove the words ”incurred in the United Kingdom”

The wording used had been discussed and agreed at a number of previous meetings with MEPs, but when you were unable to be present

I think it is far better that all MEPs have the same wording – so my new suggestion is not only removing the words “Incurred in the United Kingdom”, but adding instead “not covered by other allowances”, so it reads“This allowance covers the cost of carrying out the duties of the MEP not covered by other allowances, and includes running an office and associated expenditure.? All costs incurred meet the published Parliamentary rules”

I don´t like your way of treating me with contempt. Yes I have read your emails and the rules and I have only been absent from one of these meetings but this did not preclude you from facilitating the info agreed to me on hand or by email. Nor does it preclude me from having a different opinion.

I regret to say I have lost trust in you. You will not assume responsibility for MEPs expenditure but want to dictate your differing interpretation of the rules according to the circumstances.

Others may not have the professional experience to deal with their own expenses but I certainly do and lost a very well paid job for defending transparency and accountability in the EU something that few or no one can boast of.

While I have put effort on reaching a common presentation of expenditure for all of us UKIP Meps I reserve the right to put the comments I wish and will also deal with the publication directly myself.

NOW I ask that in the name of transparency you deliver to me without delay the same type of presentation for UKIP´s portion of group expenditure which we all contribute to finance - this should include the 4000 budget line plus all the group recruits under UKIP´s part of the group´s budget and for which at least I was not consulted upon - and make available to me - I leave to others their choice to request the same-all supporting documents for me to audit this expenditure.

I am aware that you are trying to help without even being paid for your work but this is not an arrangement that I have been given the opportunity to agree to nor does it imply that I grant my authorization to you to decide what should be published and what should not.

What a shame that Shipley’s Tory candidate was less than eager to share a platform with the dotty Lord:

“I’m really grateful for him coming to support me, that’s absolutely fantastic, but it was never the plan to do a joint event.”

A slightly miffed Pearson was not to be deterred by this rebuff and was later seen walking around the constituency with a Tory rosette on one lapel and a UKIP rosette on the other. His lackeys were also seen holding a sign which read: “UKIP 4 Davies”.

Pearson has also dismissed criticism from leading UKIPPERS who are extremely unhappy with Pearson’s support for the Tories. See: LINK

He said:

“UKIP is a very democratic party. They (the south west committee) can do what they want and I am on this ticket, so I can do what I want.”

David Drew is not in favour of leaving the EU. He believes that the EU can be ‘reformed’.

Pearson is also set to take to the streets with Tories Philip Hollobone in Kettering, Northamptonshire, and Philip Davies in Shipley, West Yorkshire, and will back Mark Reckless in Rochester and Strood in Kent on Friday.

This move must signal the end of UKIP as a serious alternative to the old party system. Farage and Pearson’s decision to support Labour and Tory candidates is a complete and utter betrayal of UKIP's manifesto and their supporters.

How can UKIP be taken seriously when the leadership is prepared to stand down candidates and actively campaign for parties that are committed to keeping Britain in the EU?

More on Pearson’s betrayal of UKIP PPCs in the South West.

You will recall that Pearson has urged the voters of Wells, Somerton & Frome and Taunton Deane to ignore UKIP’s own candidates. Pearson wants UKIP supporters to back the Conservatives in those constituencies.

Pearson didn’t even see fit to inform his PPCs before sending the letter to the media in Somerset!

We have the ridiculous situation where UKIP’s leadership are telling voters not to vote for their own candidates and to vote for the Tory candidates. Simultaneously, we have UKIP candidates telling the public to ignore what Pearson has said and to vote for them!

From the Worcester News:

A row has broken out between UK Independence Party (Ukip) members and their leader after the life peer asked electors to vote against his own party.

Members of Ukip's South West Regional Committee said they were "at odds" with Lord Pearson of Rannoch after he wrote to a media group urging voters not to support his party in three Somerset constituencies.

The committee said Lord Pearson had a "long-held belief" that Ukip should not stand against eurosceptic candidates in other parties.

As a result, he has asked constituents in Wells, Somerton & Frome, and Taunton Deane to back the Conservatives.

The statement from the Ukip South West Regional Committee said: "The UK Independence Party in the South West has the greatest respect for our leader, Lord Malcolm Pearson, and regret finding ourselves at odds with him over one vital area of his policy.

"Lord Pearson has written to media outlets in the region with the message that he does not want people to support his own party in three Somerset constituencies but to give their support to the Conservatives.

"We understand that Lord Pearson has long held this belief that Ukip should not stand against eurosceptic candidates in other parties."

The statement said that, during a visit to Bristol in April, Lord Pearson, 67, was confronted by more than 50 Ukip candidates who did not agree with this policy.

It went on: "Regrettably, Lord Pearson has chosen to ignore this firm and clearly expressed decision and has taken the step of asking the electors to vote against his own party.

"The South West Regional Committee has once again endorsed the decision to ignore Lord Pearson on this policy matter and will fight the seats in Wells, Taunton Dean and Somerton & Frome”.

It is interesting to note that Pearson is a personal friend of the Rees-Mogg’s. Annunziata Rees-Mogg is the Conservative candidate in Somerton and Frome. What a strange coincidence!

And why is UKIP so keen to support Heathcoat-Amery in Wells? Wasn’t he the MP who claimed £29,691.93 for gardening and cleaning? He was later forced to pay it back. Hardly the sort of person that UKIP should be supporting!

But what are we saying? At least he didn’t claim £2 million in expenses like a certain UKIP MEP called Nigel Farage!

And would Pearson like to explain why he wants UKIP to stand aside for untried Conservative candidates in Taunton Deane and Somerton and Frome.? We know that one of them is a family friend but does that really make it right? They are loyal to David Cameron and his ‘vision’ of Europe. Does he really think that they would have got though Cameron's selection process if they were truly regarded as anti-EU rebels?

Niall Warry of the Independent Leave-the-EU Alliance is standing in Somerton and Frome. He was, until recently, a UKIP member.

This is what he had to say:

STOP PRESS –PRESS RELEASE – STOP PRESS!

Niall Warry of the INDEPENDENT Leave-the-EU Alliance standing in Somerton and Frome has told us of an interesting election development.

Apparently the leader of UKIP Lord Pearson has written to the Mid Somerset News and Media Group to say he is advising UKIPPERS in Wells, Somerton and Frome and Taunton Deane to support the conservative candidates.

Niall Warry said “ I believe this typifies the problem with ‘Party politics’ and I sympathise with Barry Harding, the UKIP candidate in Somerton and Frome, who has clearly been stabbed in the front by his leader.

Niall Warry added that as an INDEPENDENT he would always put the wished of his constituents and country first as he had no party loyalties to get in the way. He urged all potential UKIP voters to vote for him as he was 100% committed to a policy of leaving the EU.

Lord Pearson gets stranger by the minute. He is now threatening legal action against the BBC after they refused to give him an equal platform with Brown, Clegg and Cameron.

An extract from Pearson's most recent letter to Mark Thompson, Director General of the BBC, is reproduced below.

Should you and the BBC fail to accede to this request by noon tomorrow, Wednesday, 28 April, 2010, please take this letter as notice, in terms of the pre-action protocol in judicial review proceedings under the Civil Procedure Rules, that the United Kingdom Independence Party, of PO Box 480, Newton Abbot, Devon, TQ12 9BG, and I as UKIP's leader, as claimants, will apply to the Administrative Court at or as soon as practicable after 2 pm tomorrow afternoon for judicial review of your decision and that of the BBC, as defendants, expressed in your letter to me of 15 January 2010, to refuse to allow UKIP to participate in the third and final leaders' debate, and for an injunction requiring you and the BBC to permit me, as UKIP's leader, to participate in that debate on an equal footing with all others whom you and the BBC shall have permitted to participate.

For his own sake - and UKIP’s - it would be better if he did not appear on the show.

We, and many others, have just about got over his comedy turn on The Campaign Show! See: LINK

Admitting that you are not a politician, getting shirty with the presenter and refusing to discuss your manifesto is hardly a vote winner.

We also hear that Pearson has took it upon himself to write to the Mid Somerset News and Media Group advising UKIPPERS in Wells, Somerton and Frome and Taunton Deane to vote Tory.

Pearson did not have the courtesy to inform the UKIP PPCs standing in those constituencies. The first that they heard about it was when the BBC contacted them for a quote! To say that they are rather miffed would be an understatement!

So once again UKIP's leadership show their TOTAL contempt for the membership. Publicly humiliating and undermining PPCs by asking UKIP supporters not to vote for them is now apparently official UKIP policy.

But what do you expect? UKIP is, after all, just a Tory pressure group.

Her is a report from the BBC News:

UKIP asks voters in Somerset to back the Tories

The leader of UKIP has written to a newspaper group in Somerset urging voters to support the Conservatives rather than his party's candidates.

Lord Pearson said constituents should back the Tory candidates in Wells, Somerton and Frome, and Taunton Deane.

The party has asked its candidate in Wells, Jake Baynes, to stand down, but he has so far refused.

UKIP have a policy of supporting eurosceptics from other parties, which they choose not to stand against.

The party's candidate in Taunton Deane, Tony McIntyre, said last night that he had not been told to step aside, and knew nothing about the open letter to Mid Somerset News and Media until he was contacted by the BBC.

'Betrayal'

Mr Baynes is standing in Wells against Tory eurosceptic David Heathcoat-Amory.

Speaking earlier this month, Mr Baynes said he disagreed with the policy that UKIP should not contest Westminster seats against other genuinely eurosceptic candidates.

"To stand down would be a betrayal... it probably has ruffled a few feathers, but it'll be water off a duck's back at the end of the day," he said.

Lord Pearson has admitted there has been some "disagreement" with Mr Baynes, but that he would not force him to stand down.

Mr Heathcoat-Amory has said he did not believe the number of people voting for him would be affected by whether or not Mr Baynes stood for election.

The other candidates standing in Wells are Richard Boyce, British National Party; Chris Briton, Green; Andy Merryfield, Labour; and Tessa Munt, Liberal Democrat.

Some of our readers will be aware that Clive Page - pictured above- no longer works as Nikki Sinclaire’s press officer.

UKIP’s corrupt leadership have been telling various UKIPPERS that Mr Page left her employment because his ‘working relationship with Nikki had broken down to the point where he couldn’t stand to be in the same room as her’.

They also claim that Mr Page ‘had very serious disagreements’ with Gary Cartwright and Josh Onyons.

These allegations are totally without foundation.

Here are the facts:

Clive Page also works for five UKIPMEPs. He was ’advised’ by Farage and UKIP’s leadership that his UKIP contracts would be terminated if he continued to work for Nikki Sinclaire.

Monday, 26 April 2010

The following article should be of interest to all those who still believe that Farage and Pearson want UKIP to be a genuine alternative to the old party system.

We have highlighted the relevant section in red.

Pearson confirms that if Cameron had promised a referendum on Lisbon, UKIP would have been campaigning for the Tories!

Please note that there is no mention of UKIP just standing aside for Tory Euro-sceptic candidates.

UKIP would have actively campaigned for Cameron, stood down ALL their candidates and thrown UKIP's manifesto into the recycling bin!

And all this would have been done without consulting the membership or those PPCs already selected to fight the General Election. Such is Farage and Pearson's contempt for the membership.

Pearson and Farage claim that they made the offer to Cameron because their primary aim is a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. All very laudable.

So why haven't they offered to stand down in favour of the Lib Dems?

Nick Clegg is offering a lot more than just a referendum on Lisbon. He has stated that the Lib Dems are committed to a holding referendum on 'in or out' of the EU.

UKIP has wanted such a referendum for years. So why no deal?

Some UKIPPERS have told members of the Junius Team that the Lib Dems can't be trusted to keep their word on a referendum. Apparently, that is the reason why Farage and Pearson didn't bother to approach them.

But could David Cameron have been trusted to hold a referendum on Lisbon in exchange for UKIP standing down for the duration of the GE? Cameron's duplicity when it comes to the EU suggests not. See: LINK

And would you really want to put your trust in a man who has described UKIP members as fruitcakes and loonies?

So why were Farage and Pearson so keen to do a deal with Cameron?

The answer is a very simple one. Pearson and Farage are still Tories at heart.

They have no loyalty to UKIP or the membership. Pearson's loyalty is to his old Tory chums. Farage's loyalty is largely to himself, a few Tory chums and his various off shore bank accounts.

The UK Independence Party has claimed there will be "blood on the carpet" for the Conservatives and has admitted it is campaigning for a hung parliament.

In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Lord Pearson of Rannoch, the Ukip leader, said his party wanted to ensure David Cameron did not win an overall majority so that the Conservative leader would be forced to listen to Ukip demands for a referendum on whether Britain stays in the European Union.

The peer said that if Mr Cameron had not ditched his promise of a referendum on the EU Treaty, Ukip would have been campaigning for the Tories.

As it is, they are fielding candidates in more than 500 constituencies, hoping to split the vote in marginals where the Tories can ill afford to lose support.

"Unfortunately, I don't want it, but there will be blood on the carpet," Lord Pearson said.

The leader had wanted his party to stand aside in at least 15 seats to give eurosceptic Tories a clear run, but activists would not go along with the plan.

Instead, Lord Pearson, a former Tory who defected to Ukip in 2007, has adopted the unusual tactic of urging voters in seven constituencies not to vote for their Ukip candidates, and instead to back a eurosceptic from one of the main parties – six Tories and one sitting Labour MP.

"If Ukip can do well enough, say a couple of million votes, then we will be in a position to show David Cameron and the failed old parties that they can't form a government unless they give the British people the referendum, in or out of the EU," Lord Pearson said.

Mr Cameron has now promised to introduce a Bill to ensure that no further powers can be transferred to Brussels without a referendum. Lord Pearson said that was "useless" because the important powers have been transferred.

Friday, 23 April 2010

We have already mentioned that UKIP is fielding a candidate - Barry Allcock - against Nikki Sinclaire. See: LINK

This is despite her proven Euro-sceptic credentials. UKIP’s corrupt leaders have tried to justify this decision by claiming that their policy of not standing against Euro-sceptics only applies to sitting MPs.

So would they care to explain why they are not contesting the Bexhill and Battle seat? They even told the selected UKIP candidate to stand aside for Stuart Wheeler. Mr Wheeler is not the incumbent candidate. So much for that particular UKIP policy!

It is also interesting to note that Richard Allen - UKIP Treasurer of the Hodge Hill and Yardley Branch - has confirmed that Allcock lives within the constituency of Birmingham Hodge Hill and is unknown to his local branch. What a surprise!

More on UKIP Stroud

You may recall that UKIP is supporting David Drew - the pro-EU Labour candidate. See: LINK

David Drew has confirmed that he does not advocate a complete withdrawal from the EU, but "a much more loose confederation..."

Steve Parker was the official UKIP candidate and had already paid his £500 deposit. His name will still appear on the ballet papers as he failed to withdraw his name in time.

We now have a ludicrous situation where UKIP activists - including Mr Parker - are rushing around the constituency asking voters to ignore UKIP and vote Labour!

UKIPPERS have even used UKIP resources to print and distribute leaflets begging voters to elect the representative of a party which is TOTALLY committed to EU membership!

As UKIP does not fight seats where a 'good egg' is standing, Ms Sinclaire must be considered a very 'bad egg' by UKIP’s lunatic leadership.

Scotland had a very lucky escape!

The people of Perth and North Perthshire recently had a very lucky escape.

'Lord' Monckton - UKIP’s very own swivel-eyed loon - was all set to be their UKIP PPC.

He later withdrew his nomination following 'advice' from Farage and Pearson.

And the reason for this?

A UKIP spokesman said the decision to withdraw was taken because a Restore Trust in Parliament candidate is also contesting this seat. It is UKIP policy not to field candidates against eurosceptic Conservatives or Restore Trust in Parliament candidates.

Unless, of course, they happen to be called Nikki Sinclaire!

It is interesting to note that Monckton often claims to be a member of the House of Lords.

“I am a member of the House of Lords, though without the right to sit or vote, and I have never suggested otherwise.”

This is a lie.

A quick call to the House of Lords has confirmed that Christopher Monckton is not and has never been a Member of the House of Lords. There is no such thing as a “non-voting” or “honorary” member.

Here are the facts:

Christopher Monkton's father, the 2nd Viscount Monckton, was a Member of the Lords until 1999. The House of Lords Act 1999 ended the automatic link between the holding of a hereditary peerage and membership of the House of Lords, and the 2nd Lord Monckton ceased to be a member of the House at that point.

Christopher Monckton is the 3rd Viscount Monckton and inherited the title following his father's death in 2006. He has never sat in the House.

Do you remember when the odious Paul 'Benito' Nuttall was elected to Brussels? He walked off the stage rather than share it with Nick Griffin after the Returning Officer announced that the BNP leader had also won a seat in Brussels. Such is Nuttall's contempt for democracy and the wishes of the electorate.

It is interesting to compare Nuttall's actions with those of Fred McGlade, his Regional Organiser.

McGlade - the UKIP candidate for Lancaster and Fleetwood - has pulled out of next week's election debate in Lancaster because the BNP candidate Debra Kent has not been invited.

McGlade, said that while he 'abhorred' the BNP he believed in freedom of speech.

What will Benito say? He expects his sycophants to follow his example!

Eurosceptic party UKIP has continued a bitter war against one of its own MEPs by standing a rival candidate against her in the general election.

Nikki Sinclaire, who was elected as a UKIP member of the European Parliament last year, is standing in Meriden as the candidate of the Solihull and Meriden Residents Association.

But her opponents will include Barry Allcock, who is standing as the official UKIP candidate.

Junius says: And here he is. UKIP's selection process leaves much to be desired!

Ms Sinclaire said she was “astonished and disappointed” that UKIP was standing against her.

The row is the latest twist in a long-running disupte between Ms Sinclaire and the party she still belongs to.

UKIP was ecstatic when Ms Sinclaire was elected as their second West Midlands MEP last June. It meant the party had beaten both Labour and the Liberal Democrats, which each returned only one MEP in the region.

But the celebrations were short-lived, after she publicly condemned UKIP’s decision to join a group in the European Parliament called the Europe of Freedom and Democracy group, which includes right-wing parties from across the EU.

She claimed that some of the parties involved, from other European countries, supported anti-Semitism and violence.

As a result, UKIP withdrew the party whip, which means Ms Sinclaire is now officially an independent MEP. However, she continues to be a member of the party.

UKIP’s national executive also sacked her as the party’s general election candidate in Meriden. But she stood anyway, as a candidate of new party Solihull & Meriden Residents’ Association, which cites its ethos as “restoring political power to local people.”

Ms Sinclaire said UKIP had broken its own rules by standing against her.

She said: “My views on Britain’s membership of the EU is widely known, this is another breach of trust and discredits the stated policy of not standing against known eurosceptics.”

A UKIP spokesman said: “We have candidates standing in all constituencies in the region except Aldridge-Brownhills, where there was already a eurosceptic candidate, and Nuneaton, where our candidate had to pull out.”

It is not only individual candidates who are going against Lord Pearson's deal with his Tory chums not to stand against "eurosceptics", it is the party itself.

UKIP has announced the candidature of one Barry Allcock in the West Midlands constituency of Meriden, where he will run against Nikki Sinclaire, who is actually a UKIP member.

So let's be a little more honest about it, shall we? The truth is that UKIP will not be standing against chums of Farage or Pearson, that is the reality behind this muddled policy.

It was also Pearson who told us that a Conservative government would be a "disaster" for Britain, and who then urges UKIP candidates and voters to help return Tory MPs! Is he mad? Is any of this thought through, or is it all made up after a few pints in the East India Club?

As for Barry Allcock, it may not be a crime, mate, but judging by the photo it does appear to make you go blind!

Wednesday, 21 April 2010

Fancy meeting the Great Dictator? He will be in Lancing this Thursday.

Why not ask him a few searching questions? Here are just a few:

So what did happen to the £2 million you claimed as expenses?

Why have you refused to provide a full audit of your accounts as an MEP?

Why you lied about publishing a full list of your expenses on your website?

What happened to £211,000 that vanished from UKIP's South East accounts?

Why have you refused to publish the full accounts for the Ashford call centre?

What happened to the money raised by Ashford ?

Why did you approve - via Stuart Agnew - an illegal donation to UKIP?

Here is the quote: “I've spoken to Nigel Farage and he says at the moment you can put £25,000 into Global Britain and you will remain anonymous."

Why you secretly claimed a second EU pension?

What is the purpose of Farage Ltd and the Isle of Man Trust Fund? On one occasion you paid a cheque of roughly £250,000 into that bank account. Where did the money come from?

Why you employed your wife? This was despite your clear promise not to do so. To this day no-one knows what exactly your wife did for £30,000 a year.

Why you preach morality to the voters of Bucks and yet are quite happy to commit adultery with Annabelle Fuller ?

Why you boldly condemn racism in Britain, but surround yourself with extremists in UKIP'sEFD Group?

Why you avoid UK tax by paying your salary into a Belgian bank?

Here is the email advertising Nigel’s trip to Lancing for all those interested in paying him a visit:

Dear All

Apologies for the short notice, but we’re holding a joint branches meeting in Lancing on Thursday, with Nigel Farage promoting his autobiography “Fighting Bull”. You’ll have the opportunity to purchase signed copies from Nigel.

As you’ll see attached, the venue is Lancing Parish Hall commencing at the early time of 6.00pm. in order to accommodate Nigel’s tight schedule.

We will also be introducing candidates from Bognor, East and West Worthing, Hove, Brighton Kemptown and Brighton Pavilion, plus local candidates too.

The Buckingham trip is still scheduled for Sat 1st May from 12 noon, although we will need a map of Nigel’s constituency so we can make sure we cover it well. For that trip, we’ll first fly to Turweston Aerodrome, which is about 8 miles north/west of Buckingham, and then set up the banner for a 1 hour sortie around Nigel’s constituency. We’ll be at Turweston at 11 am to fuel up and set up the banner, so it might be an opportunity at about 11.30 for a photo shoot of Nigel by the plane and banner before we take off for Buckingham. You may want to let everyone know....

End of extract.

But will Nigel include the costs for this flight in his election expenses? We do hope so. He does, after all, seem to be spending an awful lot of money in Bucks!

UKIP suffers another Homer Simpson moment - Mark Croucher confirms that he is about as much use as chocolate teapot.

But why did Mike Nattrass agree to put his name to such rubbish? What has Nigel got on you?

You really couldn't make this stuff up.

From The Economist:

Volcanic ash: the UK Independence Party weighs in

TALKING of dodgy political arguments about the volcanic ash crisis, this press release just pinged into my in-tray from Mike Nattrass, a member of the European Parliament and transport spokesman for the United Kingdom Independence Party. Mr Nattrass declares that "recession-hit airlines could face bankruptcy" as EU regulations force them to foot the bill for flights grounded by an EU agency. You can see why he would be cross.

Here is a quote from Mr Nattrass:

“It was Eurocontrol, an EU agency, which ordered the grounding of flights, and yet it is the airlines who must pay a bill which could exceed £100m on top of the lost revenue caused by the cancellations.

“The ‘denied boarding’ regulations were meant to deter airlines from overbooking flights, not to force them to pay for the over-reaction of Eurocontrol. The absurd wording means we now face the unpalatable choice of either seeing summer holiday plans being hit by a wave of airline bankruptcies, or using taxpayers money to pay these huge compensations claims.”

In "Notes to Editors", Mr Nattrass further explains:

"European airspace was closed by Eurocontrol as a result of a single computer simulation from the UK Met Office's 'Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre'"

He also explains how he reached his estimate of £100 million in costs to airlines for looking after stranded passengers, under an EU directive on passengers' rights.

It is a stirring charge sheet: an EU agency has ordered the closure of Europe's skies after a single computer simulation and so airlines may have to pay to put up 150,000 stranded passengers for more than a week thanks to EU regulations, at astonishing cost.

Alas, there are a couple of minor glitches in there. Specifically, Eurocontrol is not an EU agency, it was not Eurocontrol that ordered the closure of Europe's skies, the closure did not follow a single computer simulation and EU regulations will not oblige airlines to pay the costs of passengers stranded by the ash cloud.Or, to put it more briefly, out of four factual assertions in the UKIP press release, four are incorrect.

To explain. Eurocontrol is not an EU agency, but an intergovernmental agency, with 38 member countries.

Eurocontrol did not order the grounding of flights. Eurocontrol employs air traffic controllers who guide planes around the skies over Europe, and has played a central co-ordinating role in this crisis. But the legal decision to close and open airspace and ground flights is a matter for national authorities.

Though it is true that national and EU officials across Europe have complained that decisions have been taken to close airspace on the basis of computer modelling from the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre in Britain, which has been attempting to track the path of the ash coming from Iceland, it is not true that everyone has been working off a "single computer simulation." The ash cloud model is run every few hours, and data from weather balloons and test flights is added all the time.

Also, the EU directive that offers compensation to passengers denied boarding does include money to pay for hotels and meals, but contains a whopping exception. To whit: airline obligations "should be limited or excluded in cases where an event has been caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken".

Those circumstances include "political instability, meteorological conditions incompatible with the operation of the flight concerned, security risks, unexpected flight safety shortcomings and strikes that affect the operation of an operating air carrier".

At a press conference on April 19th, the EU transport commissioner Siim Kallas said that the compensation part of the directive would not apply this time, though he called on airlines to reimburse fares and re-route customers.

I decided to give Mr Nattrass a ring. Alas, he was not answering his mobile phone, so I called Mark Croucher, a party spokesman also named on the press release. Mr Croucher blustered on about Eurocontrol having control of lots of airspace over Europe, and Irish controllers running the skies over bits of Britain. Yes, I said, but there you are talking about air traffic control of flights. That is not the same thing as having the power to shut down airspace.

After a bit more bluster, Mr Croucher said: "I will sit down and dig through the hundreds of documents I've been looking through for the past few days," and then, "Ok, I'll go and stand in the corner."

Finally, I asked him about his estimate of the cost to airlines from EU compensation for passengers denied boarding. How do you know the airlines will be on the hook for full compensation this time, I said. How did you come to your pan-European figure? "The thrust of this is that I was looking at the estimates of the UK passengers who were stranded, and extrapolated from there," he told me. "I've got no idea of the estimates of the number of passengers from other European countries." It is hard to estimate these things, he mused. In the past, airlines have had to pick up the bill for such bills.

You could ask why anyone should care about a mess of a press release, crammed with mistakes that UKIP could have been picked up in five minutes on Google. You would be right, unless of course this tale of EU horror is picked up by any of the British newspapers tomorrow. If anyone sees it out there, do let me know.

An update: they are all at it. A colleague sent me the following press statement from Nigel Farage, the former UKIP leader standing for the general election in Buckingham:

"Because of EU hyper-regulation, not even the skies are free anymore. I hope that the many people stranded away from home, and the airlines which have lost many millions in this EU debacle will now put the blame for needlessly grounded flights where it belongs. UKIP will reclaim national competence of British air space by pulling Britain out of the EU. In aviation terms, it is the only way forward."

That's the spirit. Marred only by the detail that countries not in the EU like Norway and Switzerland have also closed their airspace in recent days.

UKIP’s ‘leader’ had been invited onto the Campaign Show to discuss UKIP’s manifesto.

But his Highness was having none of it!

From the start he was rude, patronising and confrontational.

Why does UKIP’s leadership think that being rude to journalists will win them friends?

It soon became apparent that Pearson hadn't read the UKIP manifesto and was unwilling to discuss it.

When asked about UKIP’s wonderful idea - we are being sarcastic - to allow the banking sector to self-regulate, Pearson replied:

"I haven't come here to deal with the minutiae".

When asked straight out if he had actually read the manifesto, he claimed that he had, but when pressed said:

“Well I haven’t remembered it all in, in detail. I didn’t come on to talk about this sort of thing.”

When asked about inviting retired police officers to act as professional witnesses on housing estates if "youth gangs" try to "intimidate residents into silence", he admitted that he had not spoken to any former officers about UKIP’s plan!

He later rambled on about not speaking to “some policeman in some car park”.

The interviewer persisted but finally gave up trying to get ANY sense out of the man.

Join the club. We gave up trying to get any sense out of him months ago!

Tuesday, 20 April 2010

The rather odd phenomenon that is called Stuart Agnew seems to have "gone native". He has suggested that the European Commission has "obligations" towards Romanian orphans.

He asked:

"What steps is the Commission taking to address the serious problems recently exposed by the BBC's recent investigation into the conditions in Romanian orphanages and mental institutions? Does the Commission agree, in view of the fact that Romania has received some EUR 100 million in aid from the EU since 1990 (BBC), that it has a moral obligation to take the matter up with the Romanian Government and press for urgent action?"

Surely it is UKIP's policy that such matters are the responsibility of national governments?

And how is interfering in Romania's internal affairs going to get Britain out of the EU?

UKIP gets more Pan-European with every new day!

Stuart Agnew has been reported to ELCOM after he was caught on video telling an undercover Sunday Times reporter how she could make an illegal donation to UKIP.

He has also been reported to OLAF for illegally using his MEP staffing allowance to pay Peter Reeve, a UKIP Regional organiser.

We note that Nigel Farage and Mark 'Friar Tuck' Croucher are still trying to smear Nikki Sinclaire.

You will recall that Nikki was expelled as a UKIP MEP for refusing to sit with fascists in Farage's EFD group. See: LINK

Farage and Croucher are claiming that she had at least one ‘secret’ meeting with John Bercow in a Buckingham pub on the 13th April.

And the purpose of this meeting? A fiendish Sinclaire/Bercow plot to deny Farage - the Great Dictator - a seat in Parliament!

What exactly they were planning to do has yet to be revealed by UKIP's corrupt leadership.

Were they going to put arsenic in Farage's real ale? Plant a bomb unde Annabelle Fuller's bed? Or tell Nigel's wife where she can find the video and letters?

Apparently, the meeting was so ‘secret’ that Nikki agreed to meet Bercow in a pub full of UKIP activists.

Yeah, right!

So is this the excuse that UKIP will use when that drunken adulterer loses to Bercow?

"It was all that damn Nikki’s fault!"

Here are the facts behind Nikki Sinclaire‘s visit to Bucks:

Earlier this year Nikki joined The Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme. The objective of the Armed forces Parliamentary Scheme is to provide politicians with a broad view of military life and a real knowledge of the role and functions of the armed services.

The course covers basic training and duties for both junior officers and for other ranks, concluding with a period in Afghanistan. When so many of our servicemen and women are putting themselves in harm’s way to protect our national interests, it has never been more important that those in Parliament truly understand the vital work they do.

Last week Ms Sinclaire went to RAF Halton in Buckingham for further training. Her parliamentary advisor - Gary Cartwright - went with her.

They later visited Buckingham to do some shopping and have a meal. At no point did they meet John Bercow or anyone looking remotely like him.

Farage and Croucher are a pair of pathetic liars.

End of story.

Gregg Beaman joins the Sinclaire Team

Readers of this blog will be familiar with Gregg Beaman.

Gregg was UKIP’s lead MEP candidate in the North West. He resigned in disgust after the odious Paul Nuttall fabricated complaints against him in a pathetic attempt to get him kicked off the list of candidates. See: LINK & LINK

Mr Beaman has now joined Nikki Sinclaire as her election agent.

Nikki is standing as an Independent/ SAMRA candidate in the Meriden constituency.

Monday, 19 April 2010

Another UKIP PPC refuses to betray his principles - unlike Farage and Pearson!

Farage and Pearson’s policy of not standing against Tory Euro-sceptics suffered another blow after yet another UKIP PPC refused to stand down for the pro-EU Tories.

Ian Davison - UKIP PPC for Sittingbourne and Sheppey - has refused Pearson’s request to stand down and campaign for his Tory opponent.

Good for him.

Why should he stand down and actively campaign for a party that is totally committed to keeping Britain in the EU?

Mr Davison is simply holding true to the aim of democratically opposing the pro-EU parties. This is something which UKIP’s corrupt leadership has now abandoned in favour of grubby little deals with pro-EU politicians.

Ian Davison is a man of honour and integrity. He joins Jack Baynes - the UKIP candidate for Wells - - who also refused to betray his principles.

We can reveal that Nigel Farage is less than happy with Davison and Baynes. Farage now considers them a pair of troublemakers. And we all know what happens when you defy the Great Dictator!

The knives are already being sharpened. Farage never forgives and never forgets.

Sunday, 18 April 2010

Many UKIPPERS thought that Lord Pearson was a decent alternative to Farage. They have been proved wrong. He is prepared to accept illegal donations. He is prepared break electoral law. And he is prepared to lie in order to hide his dishonesty.

Pearson claimed that he had told ELCOM about the anonymous £80,000 donation to UKIP. He said that the money came from a single “bona fide” person and the Commission had “cleared” it. ELCOM has denied this. Pearson has been exposed as a liar.

Electoral law states that donations to political parties of more than £7,500 cannot be made anonymously.

UKIP is in trouble with ELCOM yet again. When will Farage EVER learn? Does he still think that he is above the law? He should remember that after Hubris comes Nemesis!

UKIP leader Lord Pearson is facing further questions over a controversial £80,000 donation given to his party by an unincorporated association which he also runs.

Pearson admitted this month that the money came from Patrick Barbour, a former Tory donor, who gave £100,000 to the UKIP boss’s unincorporated association Global Britain.

Pearson told The Sunday Times that although Barbour had not attached strings to his donation to Global Britain, he had made it clear he would be “happy” if most of it went to UKIP. In May last year, weeks after Barbour’s donation, Pearson then passed on £80,000 of the money to UKIP just in time for the Euro elections.

Electoral law states that donations to political parties of more than £7,500 must be declared and cannot be made anonymously. If “middle men” agents are involved they must tell the parties who the original donor is so that his or her name is declared to, and published by, the Electoral Commission.

Two weeks ago Pearson was caught offering an undercover Sunday Times reporter the use of Global Britain to channel a £25,000 anonymous ‘donation’ to UKIP. He also admitted that last year he had kept an £80,000 donation anonymous when they “passed on £80,000 from one person” with “no problems”.

When confronted he insisted that he had informed the Electoral Commission that the donation had actually come from a single “bona fide” person and the Commission had “cleared” it. He revealed Barbour’s identity, saying he had understood he had previously wanted to keep his identity secret. Barbour said he had left it up to Global Britain as to how the money was used.

However, the Commission last week denied having been told that the money did not originate from Global Britain. It has now placed the £80,000 donation under review and may launch a full investigation.

An Electoral Commission spokeswoman said: “UKIP told us that the donation came from Global Britain and if they had said that was an attempt to hide a donor we would have said that is against the rules. We registered it as from Global Britain because that’s where we were told it came from.”

“It is up to the parties to investigate what the source is of donations and pass on the information to us and it is their responsibility to ensure that it is not an attempt to hide a donor.”

At the same time that Pearson offered to channel a £25,000 donation using Global Britain, Stuart Agnew, a UKIP MEP, also told an undercover reporter a number of ways to avoid having a donor’s name disclosed to the Electoral Commission.

He said the real donor could make loans, or gifts, to another person who could then pass on the money in their name instead.

Agnew also told the undercover reporter that he was part paying the salary of an assistant — Peter Reeve, who is also a UKIP regional organiser — through his taxpayer-funded assistants’ allowance even though the work he did for him was “virtually none”.

This, Agnew said, was “strictly illegal” since EU funds should not be used for party political work. Reeve later said Agnew had got it wrong and he only worked for UKIP “in his spare time”.

Diana Wallis, a Lib Dem MEP who is a vice president of the European parliament, has written to the EU president calling for an inquiry into Agnew’s admission.

It is amusing to note that Farage is claiming to be a champion of morality. Whatever next? The Pope becomes a Muslim?

We do admire Farage's cheek. So what did happen to that £2 million you claimed as expenses? Why have you refused to provide an audit of your accounts? What happened to £211,000 that vanished from UKIP's South East accounts? Where did the money from the Ashford Call Centre end up? And why did you approve - via Stuart Agnew - an illegal donation to UKIP? Etc, etc, etc.

Nigel's wife has been conspicuous by her absence. Is that why he got Annabelle Fuller - his much suffering long term mistress - to join him during the campaign?

Annabelle - pictured below - was taking time off from her latest job. She now works for the Army Benevolent Fund. Did daddy get her the job?

Battle of not being John Bercow

It seems like every eccentric in Middle England is standing against the Speaker of the House of Commons

AA Gill

Buckingham is the pivot of the nation. You either despise its beady probity with a Molotovlobbing loathing, or tearfully worship it as a symbol of this sceptred isle that stands for Spitfires and Stannah stairlifts, pewter tankards, property booms and knowing your place. It is England’s Kosovo.

The small market town — the model for Candleford — sits in a broad, polite swathe of genteel estates, mixed farms and dormitory commuting. It is the seventh richest subregion in the European Union.

It is also the constituency of the Speaker of the House of Commons. The unwritten convention is that nobody stands against the Speaker because he stands above the fray. Unless the Speaker is John Bercow, who can barely stand above the counter of a sweet shop. Now everybody is standing against him.

Bercow was a Conservative; now he’s an independent. He was elected Speaker by Labour as a cynical joke because the Tories hated him. They hated him because he started off as right wing and then changed to become a feel-your-pain liberal.

Initially he was happy for us to follow him as he canvassed, but then he equivocated, then mumbled, then coughed and put the phone down. He let us know that he was only doing local press.

So I asked the Bucks Herald if it would employ me for the day and Eleanor Campbell, the charming editor, said certainly, as long as I mentioned its hustings a week tomorrow. So I’m writing this as a junior reporter — rural Tintin — which I’m quite pleased about because I didn’t start on provincial papers like real journalists, and next week they say I can do a magistrates’ court and a junior school prizegiving. But Bercow still wasn’t talking: to me, the people of Buckingham or you. Never mind, there were plenty of other contenders to chat to.

I went to Princes Risborough about 1,000 miles away — the constituency is the size of Texas. It’s a small market town, but most of the population have departed to be estate agents and wine merchants in London leaving the mean streets to the Lark Rise chapter of Hell’s Mobility Scooters, who tool up and down the main street terrorising charity shops with an incontinent menace.

I’ve come to meet John Stevens who is standing for the Buckinghamshire Campaign for Democracy. I knew him in a previous existence, when he was head of a Conservative campaign for the euro. You can only imagine the loneliness of that, like being a proselytising vegetarian shark. Then he was an MEP and then a liberal.

He greets me with the smile of a boy who expects to be bullied and the thickly dandruffed shoulders of a chap who hasn’t been hugged for a bit. What is he standing for? Not being Bercow, apparently.

He has come up with a wonderful wheeze of having the Speaker followed by a giant dolphin called Flipper. He waits for me to get the joke, eyebrows raised expectantly.

I try to imagine interviewing Flipper. What’s that, Flipper? “Click click click click.” He sold his house for a huge profit? “Click click click click.” His wife did what? “Click click click click.” And there’s some boy drowning?

Sadly I can’t interview Flipper because his inner human has overheated — that’s global warming for you. But I do think every candidate should have a large mascot alter ego following them around, a heraldic jester.

I asked Stevens what else he did. He is writing a biography of St Paul: “Actually I’m much more interested in that. It turns out St Paul isn’t exactly who we think he was and nobody knows who the Galatians were.”

Stevens is that very English thing: an authentic contrarian. “What will you do if you win?” I ask. His eyes pop with shock. He has plainly never considered the possibility.

I embark on the march back to Buckingham to meet Nigel Farage, MEP and candidate for UKIP. He won’t know who the Galatians were but he damned well won’t want them here.

On the way I look up the other candidates. Debbie Martin is Independent Not Bercow, a 53-year-old unemployed retail assistant who has “the strong support of my husband Derek”.

Patrick Phillips, 74, Not Bercow, is offering himself as “the next best thing to a Conservative”. The mind boggles. What is the next best thing to a Conservative — a vacuum cleaner? A double-headed raspberry-flavoured dildo? A cat? He calls his wife Jolly, so they’re Pat and Jolly Phillips, with daughters Millie and Charlotte and Rosie the labrador. I feel I’ve known them all my life.

Geoff Howard, Independent Not Bercow, was a magistrate, a school governor and would like us to know that he successfully sued Thames Water for sending him the wrong bill. He is also involved in something called Hellenic football, which might be a euphemism.

Lynne Mozar is standing for the BNP due to the sudden withdrawal of Adam Worley, who had family problems. Uncharitably, I imagined BNP family problems to be far more salacious than everyone else’s.

Then there is someone called Colin Dale, but when I try to look him up, I just get Colindale, the unattractive London suburb, so he can blame his mother for that. I suppose she could have called him Wensley.

Farage is hearty, hale and seedy, in a blue checked suit and electric blue tie. He’s a man whose character has been formed by a thousand snug bars. He has that confidence that is the by-product of an enormous amount of alcohol and laughs often and loudly.

He also has breath that could club a baby seal to death. Even across his desk, every time something strikes him as funny there is a draught like Carnarvon opening a pharaoh’s tomb. The first rule of standing for parliament is: a toothbrush is not just for Christmas.

His office is a shop front selling a range of amazingly naff UKIP memorabilia. I’m particularly drawn, and then repelled, by a motley motel dressing gown with pound signs on the cuff — just the thing for entertaining the Moldovan escort before reporting her to the Home Office. And a tie, with a crank and a fly on it, because Michael Howard called UKIP a bunch of cranks and gadflies. “I’m lifetime president,” Farage guffaws. I bet you are and you really need to be politically impervious to go out sporting a rosette with a pound sign on it after the expenses scandal. One of UKIP’s MEPs, Tom Wise, is serving two years for misuse of allowances.

“I’d never do that,” says Farage, with surprising fury. “Never.” Holding Bercow’s campaign leaflet up, “I could never do it,” he repeats, with a Somme-like gust of disgust. He is pointing at a photograph of the Speaker who is smiling and hugging his wife.

Right. Well, we all know what you’re against, Nigel, but what is UKIP for? “That’s a very silly question. Of course we’re for getting out of Europe and for the end of indiscriminate immigration” etc, etc.

Isn’t the England you’re wanting to protect a vanished thing, a past place? Aren’t you really the Nostalgia party? “Absolutely not. No, no. Forward-looking, modern.” But forgive me for interrupting, you’re sitting under a poster of Winston Churchill. “Ah yes, actually that was from the last campaign.” So not really nostalgic, just haven’t caught up yet.

I ask him if we can go out and do a bit of canvassing. He travels mob-handed, firing up a Rothman’s, scattering the mobility scooters. We stand outside Boots. “Very small, Buckingham,” he says. “Not many people around,” implying that he usually attracts crowds. There are only 12,000 inhabitants and everyone is at home.

An elderly woman approaches and asks if he’s got a moral core. “Yes,” he says emphatically. “We’ve got a very large Christian group,” making it sound like a penis.

“Good,” she says. “What are you going to do with the Church of England?”

“First thing,” he bellows, “we should get rid of the Archbishop of Canterbury. When he said sharia law was not just necessary but inevitable, I thought: no, he’s got to go.”

While he moves on to canvass tracksuited hopelessly bored youths, a man who looks like an Edwardian farm labourer asks if I’d like an opinion. Without waiting for an answer, he says: “I was the mayor of Buckingham.” Was that before or after you were Napoleon? “My family has lived here since 1086.” Well, that shows a congenital lack of imagination and ambition.

It turns out that he really was the mayor and a councillor and he is a farm labourer and he has been hedge laying. “You know I’m Labour, right? Well, I’ve always found Bercow to be a really good MP. Honestly. Write to him and he’ll reply return of post and do something about it. You should know. Here, he’s a very good bloke.”

As I walked through town, stopping people, going into shops, everybody without exception says the same thing. What a very good constituency MP Bercow is. How really concerned with local issues, how diligent, unassuming and hardworking. I have never come across such consistent praise for a politician.

It would have been nice if he had shown the same diligence and courtesy to the rest of the country and the press, local and national. I gave it one last go and called his home number. A woman’s voice that sounded like the spirit of the 1940s said: “This is an answering machine. Please call back later.”